A little something that I wrote before leaving, to keep you company. We are gone in a day. But this was just pretty appropriate for a cold sunny New England day, like today. It must be the coldest day we have had in winter this year! Brrrrrrrr… Signing off.

Bits of England and Cauliflower

At home, we did not really eat cauliflower, and I often wondered why. I suspect that my mum did not think much of it, a fact of life that showed in the few ways she prepared this vegetable. I never told her so but now that I actually think about it, I really found cauliflower a boring and insipid vegetable. It always diffused a strong smell through the kitchen that never appealed to me either. Overpowering! Hence, I never kept good memories of cauliflower, even more so after I started to travel to the UK. At the age of twelve, for the first time, I flew to Reading to stay with my pen friend E. I quickly fell in love with England and its people, its strangeness, double-deck buses, the Clash, apple crumbles with custard, cooked prawns in Island sauce on top of crispy jacket potatoes, but certainly not English cauliflower. Many years later, I made a habit of spending parts of my summers in England, Wales, and Scotland, working as a group leader of French teenagers on a mission to learn English. But between Porthcawl, Workington or Bornemouth, the story I am going to share with you seemed the same, making me think that every single host family I stayed with shared the word. They all seemed to love plain boiled cauliflower. I remember watching pots overflowing with boiling water into which English housewives dumped a sad-looking white vegetable, leaving it there, sadly overcooking and disintegrating almost. I wanted to say something like “look, it is cooking for too long, it will be mushed” “you should reduce the heat, it is too high”, but I kept my mouth shut as I was too shy to say anything. I ate it and every time, liked it less.

Thank God, things changed.

I have never liked staying with the sentiment that I do not enjoy certain foods, and before I really say je n’aime pas cela (I don’t like this), I am happy to think that at least, I have tried the food in question prepared in other more appealing ways. I slowly started to reconcile myself with cauliflower for the first time after eating a chou-fleur gratin prepared by my mum. At the time, I found the dish so delicious that even believing that it was cauliflower, and nothing else, was a hard thing. Later, over the years, I tasted more excellent dishes in which this forgotten vegetable had been fried with almonds and spices, or sometimes cooked in tasty creamy sauces. Suddenly, the memory of watery overcooked cauliflower I had been left with for so long started to fade away. Dieu merci ! I was then convinced that cauliflower had sides I had not been introduced to, and instead of looking away whenever I saw some at my vegetable market, I would, once in a while, buy it. Most of the time I was uncertain what I was going to do with it, but I nevertheless bought it, as if to challenge myself. Sometimes it would sit in the fridge for a week, untouched but when I suddenly remembered, it would frequently end up in a soup. There, it became brilliant!

If, like me, you are a soup fan, you could very well start a love affair with cauliflower, one that you never imagined possible. I chose to make a homemade vegetable broth flavored with rosemary — very easy to make and so much nicer than store-bought ones — and used pine nuts to add a faint crunchy taste to the soup texture. With a simple vegetable selection, celery branch, a small potato, shallot and garlic, the dominant color stayed white and the taste was fragrant with cauliflower and rosemary, which is exactly what I was after. I did not add either cream or milk since the soup was sufficiently creamy (but you could if you liked it this way).

Cauliflower verdict?

Never say never, you could be surprised. I was, happily so. Cauliflower is something else for me now.

Rosemary Cauliflower Soup

You need:

For the vegetable broth:

1 celery branch

1 carrot

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 twig rosemary

1 onion

1 quart water

For the vegetables:

1 cauliflower (1 lb + 1.5 oz)

1 Yukon Gold potato, diced

1 large shallot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped thinly

1 celery branch, diced

2 Tbsp pine nuts

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 twig rosemary

Dash of nutmeg

Fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

Steps:

To prepare the broth, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and cook the onion, celery branch, carrot coriander and fennel seeds in a large pot on low to medium heat, for 10 mns, until tender and fragrant.

Add the rosemary and 1 quart of water. Cover and cook on low heat for 30 mns. Filter and keep warm.

To prepare the soup, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot and cook the shallot, garlic cloves, pine nuts and diced celery branch, for 3 to 4 mns.

Add the cauliflower flowers and potato. Cook for 5 mns on low to medium heat, then add the vegetable broth and rosemary. Cover and cook for about 20 to 30 mns, until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the rosemary and pass the soup through a hand mixer or food processor.

Season with salt and pepper, and add a dash of nutmeg and freshly chopped parsley.

I miss cauliflower. I never seem to buy it because it’s so large, and I never seem to finish it before it begins to brown. I have a pet peeve with neglected fresh ingredients that go bad. I remember myself eating only cauliflower for days just to finish the thing! Well, I’m glad you posted this recipe so I can get my fill once more; I on the other hand have always enjoyed this veggie. & I LOVE rosemary. Thanks! Love the photos as usual too — hope you’re enjoying your trip!

I made it for lunch today and it was fabulous! My husband didnt even know that there was cauliflower in it! He thought it was potato leek. I did put some leeks and some sliced fennel as well. Yum. But I dont have the lovely glass bowls that you have…I bet your house is full of eclectic plates and bowls! bisous, Riana

I never need to be convinced to eat more cauliflower. The rosemary and pinenuts are lovely compliments to cauliflower.. And those bowls! The soup just has to taste better when it’s presented so beautifully!

My mom would make this into a gratin too! And that was the only way I would eat it for a while. This soup souds lovely! My husband keeps asking why I never buy cauliflower…maybe I should also try to surprise myself

Hi Bea, A lovely site. The cauliflower is a favourite dish but as you say the smell can be a little overpowering. The recipe you have given is excellent and the way you have photographed it in the glass bowl makes it tempting. Yes, I am very much a soup person and like all the ingredients that you have mentioned. Would be flavoursome, I am sure…

Looks great! This is a great soup recipe and I’m itching to try it–because no one really likes cauliflower in my family. Looks creamy but without the cream! I like it– there is no milk/cream because I am lactose intolerant. Great Recipe!!

I just made this soup today minus the fennel, coriander and shallots. I only had a tiny little shallot and used that but also used onions in its place otherwise. I am so happy the way the recipe turned out. Who knew something so simple could taste to delicious. Thank you for the recipe.

I made this soup today and my husband and I thought it excellent. It took a bit but without a doubt homemade stocks are worth the effort and this soup is delicious. I thought whoever thought of bacon might be on to a good thought. A
large head of Cauliflower should be stated, no small or medium. Anymore soup recipes as wonderful as this one?

Béatrice Peltre is a food writer, stylist and photographer working out of her home studio in Boston.
She is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe Food Section, and her work has appeared in many publications
such as Saveur, Food and Wine, Whole Living, Fine Cooking, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, the Huffington Post,
the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Edible Boston, Living France, the New York Times Diner’s Journal,
and in many other international magazines.